A friend of mine and I like to meet for lunch on campus, especially to eat outside when the weather is nice. This often involves getting meals from the many ethnic food carts or takeout restaurants near campus (or bringing lunch from home) and carrying it to a nearby picnic table. As we both strive for ways of making our lives more eco-friendly, we've often lamented at the use of paper napkins and disposable utensils. With that in mind, I made her this for her birthday:

It's a portable placemat that unrolls to reveal a sturdy knife, fork, spoon, chopsticks, and cotton napkin! You then flip it over and can enjoy a nice eco-friendly lunch on dirty picnic tables, grassy spots on the green, cement benches, or even your lap!

This was my first time making something without a pattern, and I had a lot of fun (I free-hand quilted the back, though it's hard to see, and there is a layer of batting in between the front and back main panels). It was also an experiment, so I'm eager to make another to test out better ways of making the pattern. My plan is to make a tutorial, if people are interested. Comments and critiques welcome!

Great gift idea! I can see making these for others as well - my kids teachers at school has the kids eat outside fairly often... I could make one for each kid in the class so they don't have to put their lunches on the ground...

okay. now you have made more work for me! I better get started before school starts up again!